Notes: These were relatively small with the largest having a cap dia. of 7.1cm, and growing under spruce. A case could be made for Albatrellus avellaneus but the spores on these were only about 4 X 3 microns vs 5-5.6 X 3.6-4.2 for the A. avellaneus.
While there is ample literature for Albatrellus ovinus in the PNW, Trudell and Ammirati in their new book state that A. ovinus “apparently does not occur in our region” (p255)?

Used references: Smith, Smith & Weber (1981) keys A. ovinus and A. confluens in the same couplet. Spore size for A. confluens is 4-5.5 × 3-4 um. Smith says there is a Western version of A. ovinus, at least in 1975 in his “A Field Guide to Western Mushrooms”. (Maybe it has a new name by now.)

Proposed Names

Used references: Smith, Smith & Weber (1981) keys A. ovinus and A. confluens in the same couplet. Spore size for A. confluens is 4-5.5 × 3-4 um. Smith says there is a Western version of A. ovinus, at least in 1975 in his “A Field Guide to Western Mushrooms”. (Maybe it has a new name by now.)

and separated it by sequencing 18 collections from 9 Albatrellus species, among them A. ovinus, for some reason only swedish collections; A. subrubescens, one swedish collection, (in my opinion a mistake, because it was originally described from Florida); A. similis, type collection(?), also described from Europe.

basically a general field guide and does not go into great detail but they do mention Albatrellus avellaneus and Albatrellus subrubescens as being similar.
The former’s description matches closely with A. ovinus but the spores are larger.

Albatrellus ovinus doesn’t occur in the region, these certainly are some of the most ovinus look-alikes I have seen from the area.
In my experience the caps often become purplish gray if they are exposed to sun in an early stage of development, otherwise they stay almost white.

What Albatrellus species are listed from the PNW by Trudell and Ammirati then?

There are some problems and inconsistencies with the A. confluens. The picture in Smith’s ‘A Field Guide of Western Mushrooms’ shows caps with apricot coloring which is what Tylutki mentions in his description(Mushrooms of Idaho and the PNW). Also in Smith’s book he mentions and shows compound fruit bodies.
Smith says inamyloid spores and Tylutki says “somewhat amyloid spores”. The spores in these were definitely not amyloid as I had difficulty seeing them under the microscope in Melzers.
There must be some new studies out to warrant the statement by Trudell and Ammirati about the possible absence of A. ovinus in the PNW.